Thai police claim that recent bombings were acts of sabotage, not terrorism

Investigators
work at the scene of an explosion in the resort town of Hua Hin,
240 kilometers (150 miles) south of Bangkok, Thailand, Aug. 12,
2016. The blast followed a series of two explosions in Hua Hin
Thursday evening that left one person dead and a number
injured.Jerry
Harmer/AP

Thai police say a series of bombings that have killed four people
and rattled tourist destinations in the south were acts of local
sabotage and not "terrorist" in nature.

"This is not a terrorist attack. It is just local sabotage that
is restricted to limited areas and provinces," national police
deputy spokesman Piyapan Pingmuang told reporters in Bangkok on
August 12.

Blasts were reported earlier on August 12 in the popular tourist
town of Phuket, as well as Trang and Surat Thani.

They came a day after bombings in the seaside resort town of Hua
Hin killed one and wounded nearly 20 more people -- half of them
foreigners.

It wasn't immediately clear who was behind the attacks, but
observers pointed to their timing, saying they could have been
carried out by opponents of the nation's ruling junta.

The junta's leadership last weekend organized a successful
referendum on a new constitution that critics say will bolster
the military's power for years to come.